August Update – I’m in Nicaragua!

Hello again dear readers,

I am sitting in the shade away from the hot Nicaraguan sun,
but my leaking skin still reminds me of the heat’s intensity, even in the
shade. I am house-sitting for Charles and Sarah Kaye, the base directors here
in Granada.

The Kayes have an assortment of animals – a couple of birds,
a turtle, a dog and an iguana, which has been roaming the trees in the Kayes’
garden for the past couple of months. The grounds keepers here were just
shouting a lot in Spanish and running around in front of me, so I got up to see
what it was all about. The iguana had shown itself in a vulnerable location and
one of the grounds keepers, Mario, was chasing it with the pool netting. He
trapped the iguana and put it back in its cage, but it forced his head, now
much stronger, through the openings in the wiring of the roof. I guess it
decided to abort the escape mission, but was already overly committed and his
body hung limp, his head clamped between the wiring. We quickly forced the poor
guy back into his cage and went about duct taping a blanket around the cage to
prevent any further mishaps. It’s great to be back.

I went by the base, El Puente (picture above, trees in full bloom), this morning and saw several
familiar faces. One pastor I had done ministry with in the local “barrio”, a
poor residential district across from El Puente was there. It was great to hear
he and his family are well and they are still active in their ministry to the
community and pursuing the Lord’s direction for the church.

For parts of this month I will be maintaining the integrity
of El Puente and the ministry here while the Kayes are away, ministering with a
medical team from Gainesville, GA
to Nicaragua’s
capital for a week, looking for a house and trying to learn Spanish. I was
thrilled to learn of new ministries that have begun here in Granada. One in particular is a feeding
ministry to the 50+ families living in Granada’s
city dump. This morning six Nicaraguan men piled into a truck and drove out to
the dump to feed their needy fellow Nicaraguans. Any Americans jumping in with
them would be their guests in the ministry. It is so rewarding to now see the
locals reaching out to their own.

In other news, an American couple has just come on staff in Granada – Frank and Bekah
Burder. They have been living in Birmingham,
Alabama for the past several
years, working and doing the nice suburban thing when, apparently, God showed
them his alternative plans for their lives. I don’t have the whole story, but
they are coming over for dinner tonight and I’m hoping to get to know them
better then. I do know that they are here to disciple. They get discipleship
like few I’ve seen and believe, as I do, that it is the key to setting free
those held captive by various addictions here in Granada. I’d also like to
implement open discussions (one is happening in this picture with a team outside the dorms at El Puente) about specific struggles with those who have the
strong desire for deliverance.